Fans and Friends

Fans and Friends - isn't that the tie that keeps alot of us crazy singers, songwriters and musicians dreaming and hoping that we might just have something to share with the world?

It sure isn't the pay, the hours and the back breaking load in and load out time spent setting up for a show. It is the ones on the side lines who look at you with a smile and say "Wow, that song you wrote really was amazing." Maybe it took them to another time and place in their life when something was good or maybe even painful.

Either way, the friends and fans that have been a part of our lives as a band to this day probably have no idea how much their faith and love carried us. In the very beginning of Rhymshot, we had only a few fans who knew one or the other of us from school or work, or maybe a time when we performed with another group.

I remember meeting one of our dearest friends in the hall way at a club during a break at our very first show as Rhymshot. Her first complimentary words about our performance opened a door to a friendship that has lasted for years. We didn't know each other at all, but through music and the spirit that rises up through songs, it began a lifetime friendship.

What emotions and feelings music can stir up in people. We have been blessed to have had fans that have followed us from one state to the next to be a part of our dream. We have often said as a group that if we were to ever be successful in the music business that we would never forget the friends who stood by us from the very beginning. Today, those friends are still there and some have passed on to a better place. But, one thing remains true to us - If it weren't for their strength and faith in the beginning - we might have not experienced all that we did in the past and have the chance to look forward to what the future holds. For everyone who has ever come to a show, bought a t-shirt, and been there in the crowd cheering us on...we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

To make it in the music business...um, what does that mean? To sell thousands of CDs and become wealthy? To become popular enough as a singer or musician that everyone knows who you are? I still am not clear on the recipe to success in the music business as the "business" might see it. But, what I do know for sure is that "making it" isn't all about the glitz and glamour. It is being able to write and perform in a way that touches someone at the core of their being. It is about being the same person on stage as you are off stage. It is about using the gifts God gave you to bring joy to someone else. It is just doing what you know you are created to do and having others support you.

Today it seems that youth and money might be the perfect combination for "making it" in the business. I have to say that I am a little bum-fuzzled about that. I have seen some beautiful people who had voices that aren't what I call star quality just race up the charts. I have heard perfomers who aren't the perfect age limit sing a song that would melt your heart. Now, I have to wonder what the legends of country music or legends of any genre think about that.

Can you imagine what the music industry would be today if people still had the chance to travel around from town to town in their cars stopping in at radio stations across the US asking DJ's to just "give it play", and the response was about the song, the voice and the emotion. That the response determined their destiny in the business. It worked for some of the stars from the past that I have read about. It wasn't about money, youth or who they knew. It was about what they could do to a crowd of people wanting to hear music. I know alot of people who have pretty much given up on writing and singing because of limitations that others have put on them due to factors and rules about what it takes to make it. It can be disheartening.

We write what we feel, we sing and play with the talents God gave us and I hope that one day, "making it" will become a new and different scale to climb.

Sing if you want to. Write if you feel it. Share your passions with the world. And when someone comes up to you and tells you how much they enjoyed your performance or a song you have written - just count it as a blessing. You've made it in the music business!

Take care - God Speed

Rhymshot